Italian police busting illegal streaming platform with millions in revenue

European police officers have busted an international ring of streaming pirates whose IPTV platforms were visited by more than 22 million users. According to police, illegally copied video streams from well-known TV channels and major streaming services have generated revenues of more than 250 million euros per month. But now a large number of websites and servers have been seized in Croatia and some suspicious people have also been arrested.

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This is reported by Polizia Postale, the special department of the Italian police responsible for cyber crime. The operation, called “Taken Down”, was carried out in cooperation with Europol and Eurojust as well as other European states and is the largest ever strike against streaming piracy in Italy and internationally. Television piracy is becoming a growing media problem. In early 2023 it was reported that 5.9 million Germans were watching the tube illegally.

Pay TV and streaming services copied and distributed

It is clear from this which platforms and websites have now been closed and which domains have been used for this. Notice from Polizia Postal Not major. IPTV content, live broadcasts and streaming services copied from major broadcasters such as Sky, DAZN, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount were offered there. A total of 2,500 illegal channels and servers were seized, including nine servers in Romania and Hong Kong.

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“More than 270 Polizia Postal employees, in collaboration with foreign police forces, carried out 89 searches in fifteen Italian regions, including 14 searches in the United Kingdom, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia and China, involving 102 people ” Italian authorities regarding a two-year investigation.

Arrests and crypto seizures in Croatia

Thanks to international cooperation, Croatian police managed to detain eleven people. “In addition, three high-level administrators of the IT structure under investigation were located in England and Holland, as well as 80 streaming flow control panels for various channels (IPTV) available to the suspects throughout the national territory,” it continues. .

In addition to the servers, more than 1.65 million euros worth of cryptocurrencies and 40,000 euros in cash were seized. According to Polizia Postale, these streaming pirates’ monthly income of more than 250 million euros is also only a small part of the overall losses from television piracy. Pay TV providers have complained of losses of 10 billion euros due to illegal streaming.

The arrested suspects are accused of illegal streaming of audiovisual content through IPTV, unauthorized system access, computer fraud and money laundering. Just a month ago, the Stuttgart regional court sentenced pay-TV pirates to lengthy prison sentences. Four operators of a major IPTV piracy platform have been convicted of serious copyright infringement and gang fraud.

(FDS)